Irish reaction "Credit to the boys and Brian, they held them out. I think that was the winning of the match." - Eddie O'Sullivan

Assistant coach Declan Kidney sat next to Irish captain Brian O'Driscoll after the match. Kidney has never been accused of being over effusive or hyping the situation. "How do you think the man beside you played today," Kidney was asked.

"He was okay I suppose," said the former teacher. "A good day . . . a good day."

Man-of-the-match O'Driscoll was modest enough to keep his head down as laughter broke out at Kidney's monstrous understatement.

"I don't want to embarrass the guy," said coach Eddie O'Sullivan, reacting to the suggestion made in a column by Warren Gatland that Anthony Foley might have been a better choice for Irish captain. "His (O'Driscoll's) performance has been world class every time he has played for Ireland. Everyone thought that the captaincy might impinge on that but again we're talking nonsense here discussing this, what are we talking about?

"I think it's (captaincy issue) a silly discussion to have at this point. It might have been a discussion in November when we appointed him as captain against Australia because no one knew how it would go. I think the proof of the pudding is in the eating and its a silly discussion at this point."

O'Sullivan, though, was a content man. Having laid to rest the ghosts of Murrayfield, Gatland's point was also put to bed with O'Driscoll's towering contribution making it easier for his coach. But as ever, while satisfied with the Irish performance and scoreline, the pragmatist O'Sullivan was breaking through. "It was crucial to start well, especially coming to Murrayfield, which has always been an unhappy hunting ground for us. We knew it was going to be a huge game and were relieved that we've gotten over this hurdle," said O'Sullivan.

"I think there was a time in the game in the second half when Scotland threw everything but the kitchen sink at us. We said in the locker-room at half-time that there would be a period where they would come after us. And by golly they didn't pull back. We cleared our lines and suddenly we were flagged back into our own 22. When we cleared out of there, I think that was the turning point of the match. The team showed a lot of character during that period.

"Scotland played really good rugby then and I think that had they scored at that point it would have been a different ball game. Credit to the boys and Brian, they held them out. I think that was the winning of the match."

But with performance also came luck. It seems to follow Geordan Murphy around. Who other than perhaps Denis Hickie would you want in a 60 yard sprint? The scores at the end came a little bit easy, especially Geordan's score which involved a slice of luck," said O'Sullivan. "I don't think to be honest the scoreline reflected the game. Had Scotland scored it might have been different. You get your chances, you take them. They had a lot of possession in our 22 and they really came at us. We were lucky at times; but largely defended very well and we would look at it as a step forward.

"I think the manner in which they score is very important and I think if they'd got that try at the beginning, it would have been just a hiccup. The most important part of the first 20 minutes was to keep the control and pace of the game. We did that very well and we worked corners, made them go back and tried not to let them get into a rythm in their attack."

Ireland

G Dempsey (Leinster and Terenure); S Horgan (Leinster and Lansdowne), B O'Driscoll (Leinster and Blackrock, capt), K Maggs (Bath), D Hickie (Leinster and St Mary's); D Humphreys (Ulster and Dungannon), P Stringer (Munster and Shannon); R Corrigan (Leinster and Greystones), S Byrne (Leinster and Blackrock), J Hayes (Munster and Shannon), G Longwell (Ulster and Ballymena), M O'Kelly (Leinster and St Mary's), V Costello (Leinster and St Mary's), A Foley (Munster and Shannon), K Gleeson (Leinster and St Mary's).

Replacements

G Murphy (Leicester) for Horgan (26 mins), L Cullen (Leinster and Blackrock) for Longwell (66 mins), A Quinlan (Munster and Shannon) for Costello (69 mins), M Horan (Munster and Shannon) for Corrigan (74 mins), Frank Sheahan (Munster and Cork Constitution) for Byrne, G Easterby (Llanelli) for Stringer (both 77 mins), P Burke (Harlequins) for O'Driscoll (79 mins).